SARAH A. MILLER | The Salt Lake Tribune
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert highlights a few of the goals of the state's 10-year Strategic Energy Plan while speaking Tuesday at the Utah Renewable Energy Conference. "If we fail to plan, we plan to fail," Herbert told about 200 people attending the conference at the Salt Palace Convention Center.SARAH A. MILLER | Tribune File Photo
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert called for and recieved the resignation of Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission Executive Director Dennis Kellen. Herbert also called for an audit to look into serious allegations of ethics and procurement violations.

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Utah's future economy depends on responsible energy development including renewables that currently can't compete with coal, Gov. Gary Herbert said Tuesday in opening the 2011 Utah Renewable Energy Conference.

The governor said he recently met with publisher Steve Forbes, whose magazine had named Utah a top place for careers. Forbes told him Utah's longstanding status as a cheap-energy state was key. But with that status dependent on coal, and the public clamoring for cleaner energy, he said it's also important for Utah's universities and companies to keep seeking ways to make renewables cost-effective.

"The public is demanding now in the marketplace cleaner and yet affordable fuels," Herbert said.

As a first and easier step, though, he urged Utahns to conserve energy.

"We do need to have a mentality that says, 'Let's turn off the lights when we leave the room. Let's trip chain. We probably don't need to go to the grocery store every day."

Part of the 10-year state energy plan his administration released this spring calls for a research initiative among state universities and technology programs. He said he thinks Utahns can solve problems related to renewable-energy storage.

"The best resource we have here in Utah is the human resource," he said.

Herbert spoke to about 200 people at the Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center, where about 400 had registered for the second annual conference co-hosted by the Utah Solar Energy Association and the Utah Technology Council. Throughout the day, organizers scheduled sessions about renewable-energy projects in the state, clean transportation initiatives and financing and permitting new projects.

Utah, as a commercial hub for the Intermountain West with abundant solar, wind and geothermal prospects, is well-positioned to be a leader, said Wendolyn Holland, an efficiency and renewable-energy commercialization adviser at the U.S. Department of Energy. By maximizing new energy technologies, she told the crowd, Utah can help lead the U.S. out of its economic slump.

"Energy efficiency and renewable energy are the key to our economic growth," she said.